It was one of those lines that probably felt like a zinger at the time, but may come back to haunt him. In response to a question from Kemi Badenoch on defence at Wednesday’s PMQs, Andy Burnham declared that “we do everything to support our national security, but it can’t come at the expense of social security.” The irony of twenty-first-century conflict is that he was both terribly wrong to draw this dichotomy and also quite right.
In a few years’ time, Russia will be rearmed, with all the lessons it has learned from Ukraine
On the one hand, the defence of Britain – like most of Europe’s – is in pretty threadbare shape. Despite the regular litany of “Putin is coming to get us next Wednesday” claims from some quarters, there is no evidence the Russians do have wider imperial goals and, more to the point, they are in no shape to tangle with the West, especially not until the Ukraine war is over and they have spent years reconstituting their forces.
Don’t take my word for it. US general Alexus G. Grynkewich, Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe earlier this year said “I’ve watched the intelligence very closely. Russia is not looking for a conflict,” adding “they do understand that we have a number of asymmetric advantages.”
